'World Affected,' Sakharov Says

From Associated Press

Soviet human rights activist Andrei D. Sakharov on Monday urged world leaders to press for an end to death sentences for pro-democracy leaders in China.

"What has happened in China does not concern China alone. The whole world is affected. What has happened is also likely to affect events in the Soviet Union," the Nobel Peace Prize-winner told a news conference during his current visit to Britain.

Sakharov said he sent telegrams to Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, President Bush, Soviet President Mikhail S. Gorbachev, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl, French President Francois Mitterrand and U.N. Secretary General Javier Perez de Cuellar.

Sakharov received an honorary degree from Sussex University in Brighton on Monday. Today, he is to speak at the Royal Institute for International Affairs and the following day will receive an honorary degree from the Oxford University. He will meet Thatcher on Friday.